Ever Heard Of Beer Fountain? Head To Europe To Experience It

It seems like the people of Slovenia have taken the beer game one step ahead as it inaugurated what is being called Europe’s first “beer fountain”. Several hundred beer-lovers and curious spectators gathered in a small town in Slovenia on Tuesday to unveil the fountain, as per reports.

It has been established in Žalec, a small town in the Lower Savinja Valley. Designed by academic and artist Oskar Kogoj, an honorary citizen ofŽalec and a world-famous industrial designer, the fountain has eight automatic dispensers for beer, primarily meant for beer tasting.

Well, as Geet in Jab We Met, very well pointed out that best things in the world aren’t free now (*sigh*), this fountain, unlike our natural ones, isn’t free and would require the well-pleased beer lovers to shell out six euros ($6.75) gets you a special glass with a microchip that allows customers to pour a very modest decilitre of beer five times from any of the five different taps.

“The point is not letting people get drunk here, we want to promote the culture of drinking beer,” said mayor Janko Kos, insisting the beer was still competitively priced compared to other countries. Outside interest is “astonishing”, he added. The town was getting calls “from everywhere and asking what it is that they have there. That can’t be bad.”

Žalec is known for the rich beer-brewing tradition and its local beer Kukec. Its specialty is natural thermal water from nearby Laško, which enriches the flavour of the beer. The mayor hopes that the installation of this fountain would thus reinforce the position of the Lower Savinjska valley on the tourist map of Slovenia.

On a completely different note, think about the possibility of such a fountain being constructed in India. Sounds highly implausible, right? Even if somebody thought of something as innovative as this, it would somehow come in the way of the sanctity of our culture, and maybe the right-wing parties would stage a protest and charging people with sedition.

And, just for once, if the proposal went through all of this successfully, people would go berserk and create a ruckus.

Sigh.

Slovenia’s Mayor’s idea is undoubtedly exceptional. But isn’t one decilitre of one kind far too less for a beer lover? Nonetheless, here’s hoping that people would flock to Slovenia to experience this and make this novel idea successful!

Ah, for me, it’s time to save some money.

Watch the video about the fountain and get a glimpse of the opening ceremony here: